Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 832922498

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-79587

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report from the Select Committee on Slave Trade (East Coast of Africa); together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index

Place of publication:: [London]

Publisher:: [The House of Commons]

Year of publication:: 1871

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (XXIV, 242 S.)

Collection:: Economics Books

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79 ON SLAVE TRADE (EAST COAST OF AFRICA). ^ charge of the boats ; was that ever brought to Jcur notice as commander of the station?—Cer- ^inly not; I should say that the officers in harge of the boats displayed great zeal, and ^onderful perseverance in carrying out the duties i*^cy had to perform ; and I had every reason to ^ Satisfied with the captains under my command, A? ''Veil as with the state of discipline of the merent ships. Il62. It was given in evidence before, that of those officers are engaged in very Ijhluons duties away from their ships for many ^^ys in a severe climate?—Yes, most arduous • and they have many difficulties to contend ^§9,inst in the way of currents and breezes, in to which they are not accustomed ; the mon- ^crs are very strong sometimes on the coast. ^Cy certainly as a rule perform their duties ^^y creditably to themselves. 116.3. When you were in command did you ^Ve many complaints of the conduct of the men 1 ben on shore at Zanzibar ?—None, to my recol- g. II64. You are not prepared to agree with the Element made by a former witness, that the ^^bduct of the men while on shore at Zanzibar so bad that they had to be prevented from ashore at all ?—The men were prevented going ashore in Zanzibar, to the best of my ^^.^^llection, for fear of their coming in contact j dh the Northern Arabs, who are a very wild, ^b^less race ; to prevent collisions between the ^ ^fthern Arabs and the men, it was not thought ^l^^irable to give the men leave to land on that and they were sent to the Seychelles to ^1 ^nd their holidays and to have their leave. It ^ot on account of their misbehaviour on shore o ^11, but merely to prevent collisions between and the Northern Arabs. ¡^•,ll65. Sir J. Hay.'] The unhealthiness of Zan- also had something to do with the prohi- I presume?—Yes. \yö6. Chairman.] The Seychelles are healthy ? ]jjl67. Mr. Crmn-Eicing.] Will you specify a Y more particularly the tonnage of the dozen ^ ®®els which you think would be requisite ?— ^ew class of corvette, from 1,000 to 1,200 You would have steam launches attached ^se corvettes ?—Y es. Lord F. Cavendish.] Do you consider the employment of such a fleet as you have tj.^'jbuiiended would absolutely put an end to the Rg or only diminish it ?—It would diminish it \vjj^|^^®iderably that it would not be worth the t ^be Northern Arabs to run the risk of st^k^re. It is a regular trade, and if they were Pfied in that way they would give it up. We have been told that it might be P while to make a great effort, and that if ^^de was once absolutely stopped it might be renewed ; is it your opinion that 12 ® would so put an end to the trade as to the prospect of this large fleet not being ^^ontly required?—Wherever there is a there will always be a supply if the ^0^] vvithdrawn, but I should hope that it kiq d be found it would not be profitable to the slaves and send them to the beach prospect of sending them on. The present squadron of seven vessels 0 one out of 20 ; that being so, do you think that 12 vessels would be likely to put an end entirely to the trade ?—No, it would be impossible entirely to do so with such a large extent of coast. 1172. Was the health of the men under your command good?—The health of the men in the cruisers on the South East Coast was good ; but in the flagship, the “ Octavia,” we suffered very severely from an epidemic of small-pox and fever. 1173. What would be the number of the crew which you would recommend for such a fleet ?— About 2,000. 1174. Mr. J. Talbot.] Those steam launches would be able to go into the shallows?—Yes; the steam launches would go into the shallows where there would not be much sea ; the steam launches could not be exposed to the severity of the mon soon. 1175. Do you agree with the last witness that large ships by themselves would not be efficacious in stopping the slave trade ?—You require small ships ; large ships consume more fuel than small ships, and a small ship would do the duty just as well as a large one. 1176. Did you have a proper proportion of those small ships ?—They were all small. 1177. Were they small enough to go into shallow water?—No, they sent their boats in; most of their duties were conducted by their boats ; I gave very strict orders that boats were on no account to land or to attack barracoons unless they had the support of the ships. 1178. No difficulty arose from your not being able to follow the slavers into shallow water ?— We should surprise them in the shallow water if we could; it depended on the captains of the ships and the information they got ; their endeavours were to surprise the slavers ; if the slavers have the slightest hint of our coming, all the flttino-s a re'pitched overboard ; it is only by taking them by surprise that we can capture them. 1179. Did you find any difficulty from the fact of your ships being so large that they were unable to leave deep water, in consequence of which the slavers got into shallow water, and so escaped from the large ship ?—No, I think, as a rule, the slavers ran on shore ; if they were chased by a cruiser along the coast of Arabia there would be a good deal of surf, and the ships could not stand in. 1180. A boat could follow them ?—They were followed by the boats. . 1181. You had enough boats in proportion to the ships ?—Yes, every ship was supplied with her proportion of boats. 1182. Chairman.] Had you any steam launches ?—I had one in the Octavia.” 1183. Sir J. Hay.] W ith regard to the dis position of the captured slaves when liberated, will you state what the process was when dhows were captured?—They were sent to be adjudi cated at Aden, principally ; some went to the Cape of Good Hope. 1184. And the slaves were sent from Aden to Bombay, were they not ?—They were sent to the Seychelles. 1185. Do you think the Seychelles a good place in which to deppsit liberated slaves ?—Yes ; the inhabitants appeared to wish that slaves should be continued to be sent there ; they were found very useful labourers. 1186. Chairman.] Could they absorb any very large number of liberated slaves ?— No, not a K 4 large Rear Adm. C. F. Hillyar, C,B. 25 July 1871.

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